The greater pipefish (''Syngnathus acus'') is a

pipefish Pipefishes or pipe-fishes (Syngnathinae) are a subfamily of small fishes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons ('' Phycodurus'' and '' Phyllopteryx''), form the family Syngnathidae. Description Pipefish look like straight-bodied s ...

of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Syngnathidae The Syngnathidae is a family of fish which includes seahorses, pipefishes, and seadragons ('' Phycodurus'' and '' Phyllopteryx''). The name is derived from (), meaning "together", and (), meaning "jaw". The fused jaw is one of the traits that ...

. It is a

seawater Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approximat ...

fish and the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of the genus ''

Syngnathus ''Syngnathus'' is a genus of fish in the family Syngnathidae found in marine, brackish and sometimes fresh waters of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Fossils of these species are found from the Oligocene to the Pleistocene. They are kno ...

''.

Etymology

The genus name ''Syngnathus'' derives from the Greek, ''syn'', ''symphysis'' meaning ''grown together'' and ''gnathos'' meaning ''jaw''. The Latin species' name ''acus'' means ''needle''.

Description

The greater pipefish has a long segmented armoured body, angular in cross section and stretching up 45 cm long with its stiff appearance. It ranges a color brown to green in with broad alternating light and dark hue along it. Its customized by a long snout with mouth on end and a slight hump on the top of the body just behind the eyes. The fish is generally 33 cm to 35 cm in length with a reported maximum length of 47 cm. They are almost square in each segment of the body, and known to feel rigid when handled. The greater pipefish has distinctive body rings which are a sandy brown with darker bars covering its body in between.Fishbase
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Anatomy

The

anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

of fish vary through the sex. The top third of the females belly is deep (when egg bound), twice the breadth of the lower two thirds below the vent. The male is the "tailing" with the twin folds below the vent. The folds of the skin make the middle third and during the "brooding" of the young they swell in size until the young are released from the pouch (at a size of 22 mm to 35 mm).

Biology

These fishes feed on live

mysid Mysida is an order of small, shrimp-like crustaceans in the malacostracan superorder Peracarida. Their common name opossum shrimps stems from the presence of a brood pouch or "marsupium" in females. The fact that the larvae are reared in thi ...

s and small

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

s. They are ovoviviparous and reproduce usually three times each year. A few females deposit partial clutches under the tail into the male's brood pouch, that may contain up to 400 eggs.

Distribution

The greater pipefish is found all around the

British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...

and is regularly found in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

Habitat

These fishes are common on southerly and westerly coasts in a variety of

habitat In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species' habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ...

s, often amongst

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

s and

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine (ocean), marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four Family (biology), families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and ...

''Syngnathus temminckii''

The southern African species ''

Syngnathus temminckii ''Syngnathus temminckii'' (longsnout pipefish) is the most common pipefish in southern African estuaries, ranging from Walvis Bay (Namibia) to the Tugela River on the east coast of South Africa.Heemstra, P.C. (2004) Coastal Fishes of Southern Afr ...

'' ( Kaup, 1856) was until recently synonymised with ''S. acus''. However, morphological data clearly show that it is distinct, and genetic data indicate that it is not even the sister taxon of ''S. acus'', but of another southern African species, the river pipefish '' S. watermeyeri''.Mwale, M., Kaiser, H., Barker, N.P., Wilson, A.B. & Teske, P.R. (2013) Identification of a uniquely southern African clade of coastal pipefishes ''Syngnathus'' spp. Journal of Fish Biology 82: 2045–2062

Gallery

Syngnathus acus spain.jpg, Social behavior of two juvenile specimens of

Syngnathus acus The greater pipefish (''Syngnathus acus'') is a pipefish of the family (biology), family Syngnathidae. It is a seawater fish and the type species of the genus ''Syngnathus''. Etymology The genus name ''Syngnathus'' derives from the Greek, ''syn' ...

. Aguja de mar (Syngnathus acus), Parque natural de la Arrábida, Portugal, 2020-07-21, DD 88.jpg, On the sand. Syngnathus acus Rab 01.JPG, Detail of the head. Syngnathus acus Rab.JPG, Detail of the body rings. Syngnathus acus Rab 1.JPG, Among seagrass.

Bibliography

* Bent J. Muus, Jørgen G. Nielsen: ''Die Meeresfische Europas. In Nordsee, Ostsee und Atlantik.'' Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, * Dawson, C.E., 1986. Syngnathidae. p. 628–639. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the North-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Volume 2. Unesco, Paris. * Rudie H. Kuiter: ''Seepferdchen: Seenadeln, Fetzenfische und ihre Verwandten''. Ulmer (Eugen), 2001,

References

*
Greater Pipefish ''Syngnathus acus'' - Jim Hall

External links

''Syngnathus acus'' on Marine Life EncyclopediaGreater pipefish
on

Marine Life Information Network The Marine Life Information Network (MarLIN) is an information system for marine biodiversity for Great Britain and Ireland. MarLIN was established in 1998 by the Marine Biological Association The Marine Biological Association of the United ...

The greater pipefish in Aquaria
* Crystal Clear device camera

* {{Authority control

greater pipefish The greater pipefish (''Syngnathus acus'') is a pipefish of the family (biology), family Syngnathidae. It is a seawater fish and the type species of the genus ''Syngnathus''. Etymology The genus name ''Syngnathus'' derives from the Greek, ''syn' ...

Fish of the East Atlantic Fish of the Adriatic Sea Fish of the North Sea Fish of the Black Sea Fish of the Mediterranean Sea Marine fish of Europe Marine fauna of Africa